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Don't Sweat Health Care, California's Got This

Implementing Obamacare is a train wreck nationally, but in California it's a high-speed rail disaster.

In the past few weeks we learned that health insurance giants UnitedHealth, Cigna and Aetna will opt out of California's health care exchanges. They will still provide health insurance through large employers but wisely avoided Obamacare’s complicated new framework.

In another hit to the left coast, many Californians need to trade in their Cadillac plan for a backfiring Yugo. State leaders claim that more people will be insured, but benefits will be cut and the network of providers reduced.

More recently it was revealed that the "Affordable" Care Act will drastically increase the insurance premiums of millions of Californians. Young residents who buy insurance for themselves will see their already high insurance premiums double.

When politicians see their good intentions collapse into a swamp of red tape, you’d think they might consider a course correction. But instead of learning from their mistakes, state leaders are screaming, “go faster!”

Since Obamacare mandates that businesses give expensive new benefits to full-time employees, many companies simply converted many of their positions to part-time. Everyone with an ounce of common sense predicted this move, yet it came as quite the shock to Sacramento.

But have no fear — the Golden State's "regulate first, ask questions later" lawmakers have created a cunning plan to teach those businesses a lesson. The legislature is working on a bill that would levy a fine of up to $6,000 on employers for every full-time employee that ends up on the state’s version of Medicaid.

Sonya Schwartz, program director at the National Academy for State Health Policy (yeah, that’s a thing) says, “There are concerns that employers will be gaming this new system and taking less and less responsibility for their workers. This may make employers think twice.”

That’ll show ‘em! But, hold on a second. Like the original Obamacare language, this new law only applies to full-time employees. You know, the positions businesses have already converted into part-time slots. So this exciting new bill just repeats the same counterproductive penalties Obamacare created in the first place.

For years, Wal-Mart—and other large retail operators—have been piling up huge profits by controlling their labor costs through paying employees sub-poverty level wages. As a result, it has long been left to the taxpayer to provide healthcare and other subsidized benefits to the many Wal-Mart employees who are dependent on Medicaid, food stamp programs and subsidized housing in order to keep their families from going under.

With Medicaid eligibility about to be expanded in some 30 states, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, Wal-Mart has responded by cutting employee hours—and thereby wages—even further in order to push more of their workers into state Medicaid programs and increase Wal-Mart profits. Good news for Wal-Mart shareholders and senior management earning the big bucks—not so good for the taxpayers who will now be expected to contribute even larger amounts of money to subsidize Wal-Mart’s burgeoning profits.

Burgeoning profits! Cutting hours! Sub-poverty wages! Despite the overwrought jargon, the California bill only exacerbates the problem it claims to fix. When government punishes job creators, fewer jobs are created. When government attacks profit makers, fewer employees get paid. And when lawmakers actually do land an anti-business punch, the costs are passed to you and me, the consumer.

Sacramento boasts of their trendsetting policies with the line, “first California, then the nation.” Let’s pray that this high speed train wreck goes off the rails before it leaves the Golden State.

I know of 2 states in the USA with economy's large enough to be country's in their own right and would be in the G20 if they were independant. One is fixated on dependance and Government Interfearance and the other vearmently indpendant. Guess which one I'm backing to come out of this o.k choosing from Texas and California?

On today’s edition of the The FreedomCast, Rob Johnson, former campaign manager for Governor Rick Perry joins me to discuss health care in Texas, and why the battle against Medicaid expansion is a personal liberty, Tenth Amendment issue.
Have a suggestion for an upcoming FreedomCast episode, or a comment?

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) linked to this instructional video produced by Texas State Rep.Lois Kolkhorst, the Republican chairwoman of the House Public Health Committee. In the video, Kolkhorst says Texas will benefit from exchange subsidies even though Texas has not created an Obamacare exchange.

FreedomWorks recently hosted a conference call for bloggers and reporters with the House Republican Doctors Caucus. The forum allowed caucus members to make statements regarding the third anniversary of the passage of Obamacare, and the murky future of this deeply flawed legislation. Bloggers and reporters were given the opportunity to ask questions of the caucus members, leading to a lively discussion on the future of health care under this onerous bill.

Last Friday, the Senate voted on dozens of amendments to their budget resolution before eventually (narrowly) passing the budget itself. This frenzy of amendments, known as a "vote-a-rama", gave many Senators a chance to force their colleagues onto the record on many key issues that have not come up for a vote in the Senate in years.Among the most important (and revealing) votes were on Medicare reform, internet sales taxes, ObamaCare repeal, carbon taxes, and Senator Rand Paul's budget plan.

Ohio has become a Medicaid expansion Twilight Zone, as avowedly conservative Governor John Kasich works with progressive activists to deliver new entitlement benefits with money that doesn't exist. Ohio's press, which loves the idea of "free" federal funding through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), repeats pro-expansion falsehoods without a hint of skepticism.

Despite every attempt by congressional Republican leaders to preemptively surrender, the fight to get a sane Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund only the necessary parts of government is not over. Senate Democrats and the White House, not content with victory, are pushing for even more spending and taxes, giving reformers an opportunity.

On today’s edition of The FreedomCast, Philip Klein senior editorial writer for the Washington Examiner joins me to discuss the third anniversary of Obamacare. how we were told it would create more affordable health insurance and better access to health care. Has it done either?